I'm ashamed to say that I have been very bad on the blogging front, but in my defence, there has been a lot going on. There have been a number of trips to Somerset and Cornwall to visit the aged relatives and although we haven't had an actual holiday, there have been other treats.
However, I've still not been spinning because as soon as my back got better, I fell and hurt my foot and treadling is a bit of a problem. So, I bit the bullet and bought a spindle, but soon discovered that even with twenty years spinning experience using a wheel, you have to start from scratch to learn how to spin with a spindle! That is on the back burner for now, but perhaps I'll pick it up later.
My big news though is on the weaving front. I decided that I wanted to weave an IKAT scarf and as I was booked to do an indigo dyeing workshop with Magie Relph, I thought it would be nice to use it to dye a cotton warp. Why did I decide it would be a good idea to make a five metre warp which would use most of the 24 inch weaving width of the Harris loom? All I can say is that it seemed like a good idea at the time.
The yarn is cotton 3/14, sett at 32 epi. It is a little soft, but will drape nicely and I hope it would take the indigo dye very well. So the warp was wound, the cross securely tied and strips of plastic carrier bags tied around in what I hoped would be a pleasing pattern. It did take the dye well, but I hadn't realised just how much a bunch of yarn would resist the dye even in the gaps between the plastic bags. So there was nothing for it but to get the hands in the bucket and wiggle the yarn around to get it throroughly soaked.
If I had known beforehand how many problems I would encounter, I think I would have had second thoughts, but I don't like giving up! It is staggering how ignorant I was of simple weaving techniques. I just didn't know how much I didn't know! So here it is, warts and all!
So, after the traumas my DH and I suffered getting the warp on the loom, we decided we needed lessons. This is how I came to be spending last weekend with Stacey Harvey-Brown learning the basics and some not so basics. Stacey is a very well known weaver and is an excellent teacher. She helped me get to grips with all the arithmetic you need in planning a project, something I confess I didn't pay enough attention to! Never again will I take my warp to the loom, only to discover I have more threads than heddles and no idea how to prevent a horrible tangled mess!
My IKAT warp is still on the loom, but is now waiting for me to finish it, but as I have warped up my little Louet with a nice warp, that is taking priority at the moment!
